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Reading The Wheel of Time Together [SPOILERS!]


ILuvHats

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Hi!  Welcome to the Wheel of Time reading group.  Basically, we'll just be going through the series together and discussing all that juiciness.  Anyone can join at any time even if you've already read it all, and feel free to comment even if you don't want to participate in the readings.  Just don't spoil anything ahead of what the group has read, because there are first-timers (like me).

The readings will work in a pretty standard way.  Once the date is reached for a section of a book, any spoilers up to that point are allowed.  I know people live in different time zones, so don't start posting spoilers for last week's reading immediately after 12:00 am Sunday night, because there could be people in an earlier timezone who might inadvertently stumble across spoilers.  And though I'm guessing any participants who are new to WoT will have already finished the weekly reading by that point, there's always the possibility that they've fallen behind.  So, it's best not to take chances.  I think if we just wait until a reasonable time on Monday morning, say 7:00 am, we should be fine.

Here's the schedule for the next 9 weeks:

Monday, January 21 - The Eye of the World, Prologue - Chap. 17

Monday, January 28 - The Eye of the World, Chap. 18-34

Monday, February 4 - The Eye of the World, Chap. 35-53

Monday, February 11 - The Great Hunt, Prologue - Chap. 13

Monday, February 18 - The Great Hunt, Chap. 14-31

Monday, February 25 - The Great Hunt, Chap. 32-50

Monday, March 4 - The Dragon Reborn, Prologue - Chap. 20

Monday, March 11 - The Dragon Reborn, Chap. 21-39

Monday, March 18 - The Dragon Reborn, Chap. 40-56

Good luck, and have fun!

Edited by ILuvHats
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13 hours ago, ILuvHats said:

Hi.  So I finally got into WoT.  It only took me three attempts over 2 years to complete the first book :D!  It was just a little too Tolkienesque for my usual tastes, with the hero's journey and all that.  But I finally finished it this winter break and I started book 2.  And I have to say, I'm enjoying The Great Hunt much more than the Eye of the World, so far.  So, I think I'm actually going to commit to the series and read the books consistently.  And I figured, I might as well see if there's anyone else on the shard who hasn't read the WoT yet, and would like to read it along with other people and discuss it.  Because personally, I don't think I've ever had major discussions about any books other than Brandon's works.  And logically, I always read all the books he'd released in a series before going on the forums to discuss it, to avoid spoilers.  I think it would be really to read a series where I could discuss what could be coming up in future books without having to wait years until the next book comes out.

I realize a lot of people, maybe even the majority of people on here, have already read the WoT considering its a fantasy classic and Brandon himself wrote the last three books.  But, if there's anyone out there who has started reading the series recently or who would like start reading it, let me know, and we can work out a reading schedule of sorts, and if enough people join start a reading group.  

Last, for people better versed in shard etiquette, is it okay if I double post on this topic if nobody else responds in a day or two?  I know its usually frowned upon, but I'm not too optimistic about quickly finding people willing to participate in this, and I would prefer to keep this at the top of the topics section so it has a good chance of being seen.  I REALLY want to make this happen.

This is like MAGIC. I'm only on Book 3! I'd be happy to do this thang!

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I stopped somewhere during book 4 or 5, and then read those by Brandon. (Say nothing, I had a friend fill me in on the gap)

I guess I could give the series another try. If we do this together I hope I can motivate myself to continue.

Edited by Sorana
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Awesome!  I’m glad there’s people out there willing to give this a try!  I’ll probably wait til Monday to see if anybody else wants to join, then we can try to arrange a schedule to get us all onto the same book, and put up some soft deadlines from there for how fast we want to read them.  Then let the discussions begin!

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On 1/12/2019 at 1:42 AM, ILuvHats said:

if there's anyone out there who has started reading the series recently or who would like start reading it, let me know

Some of y'all might be interested in Sylas K Barrett's "Reading The Wheel of Time" series on tor.com, which shares his thoughts, reactions and theories as he goes through his first read of the series.  Unfortunately I suspect you will soon overtake his pace---he spent about four and a half months on The Eye of the World, and is now approaching the end of The Great Hunt.

Edit to add: They seem to be pretty successful keeping the comments to those posts spoiler-free, or at least hiding any spoilers in the comments.

Edited by Just a Lifetime
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Don’t worry, I didn’t forget ;).  I’ve got a pretty busy day today, so I won’t be able to post the update until tonight at maybe 10 pm US central.  I have a few ideas for how to make this book discussion work, but I’ll want to get feedback.

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Hi everybody!  I'm glad so many people are interested in this, because I wasn't honestly sure it would work out.  But it did!  Anyways it's time to get a schedule that everybody can agree on.  I'll edit the top post once we agree on something.  I'm going to make a quick list summarizing everybody who's said they're interested to get a good idea of where everybody's at in the series and who has already read it.  I also went to tag people just to make sure you're still interested, and so that everyone can give me feedback on my "proposal" or whatever you want to call it, because I want a schedule that works for everybody.

@Dr. Dapper,  @whattheHoid, @Kcitsmood, and @Sorana have all read the series, or at least most of it, already.  So I'm assuming you're cool with starting a reread wherever is most convenient for the new people, unless you decide to just discuss what you remember instead of rereading.  If you want to start at book 1 to refresh your memory let me know, and we can take it into account since everybody has different reading speeds.

@erbiL ohcnaG is on book 3, @Kidpen is on book 1, I'm on book 2, and @Snipexe didn't say yet.  Also, @Just a Lifetime didn't explicitly say he wanted to join, but you still posted in this thread, so let me know if you DO want to participate.

So here's how the deadlines will work.  Obviously, falling behind is totally fine, but once the date arrives for each section, spoilers are allowed up to the specified point in the series.  The first three books at least are each about 700 pages long, so I'm thinking its reasonable to divide each book into thirds and give a week to read each third.  That's about 240 pages a week, and about 35 pages a day.  So not too bad.  I don't want to go any faster because that's my personal limit based on my schedule.  If anybody wants to go slower, we can.  I don't want to go so slow it takes over 2 years though :P.  Also, I think Mondays are good days for the deadline since that gives the weekend for catching up on reading.

Now, for how we're going to start this.  There are two ways we can do it.  We can start at book 1 and people who are already in the middle of the series (for the first time) can just wait until the people who just started catch up before they keep reading.  But then some people, like @erbiL ohcnaG, might have to wait for 2 months before they can continue reading.  Or, of course, they can read ahead, but where's the fun in that?  I kind of want everybody who's reading WoT for the first time to be on the same book, that way its just more fun to discuss.  The other option is that we allow a shorter slot of time, like a month, for everybody to read faster than they would following the deadlines and catch up to the same book.  I'm thinking up to the beginning of book 3, or in the middle of it depending on how far @erbiL ohcnaG is through it.  The actual length of time depends on how fast @Kidpen, and anybody who's rereading from the beginning for a refresh think they can read.  

So those are my ideas.  Let me know which of the options you prefer, and if you have any different ideas, share them. 

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17 minutes ago, whattheHoid said:

I like that. Why don't we just start from book 1 and if we've read it already, we could still talk about it? Eventually we'll (people reading through the first time) catch up with each other. If that makes sense?

^what she said.

I'll definitly have to start a full reread with book 1. It's been a few years and if I really want to discuss anything, but the basics, I'll have to reread it. I think a week for 240 pages will work for me. That's about 2,5 hours I have to spend reading and I can definitly find the time for that.

Edited by Sorana
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1 hour ago, ILuvHats said:

@Just a Lifetime didn't explicitly say he wanted to join, but you still posted in this thread, so let me know if you DO want to participate.

 

I'll just be discussing what I remember instead of rereading---or more likely lurking vicariously to be extra sure I won't spoil anything.

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